Quick Use
- Sign up at helicone.ai → copy API key
- Switch your LLM SDK base_url to
https://oai.helicone.ai/v1(or anthropic.helicone.ai etc) - Add
Helicone-Session-Idheader — every matching call is grouped
Intro
Helicone Sessions group LLM calls that belong to the same user conversation, agent run, or workflow under one session ID. Trace a multi-step agent end-to-end, see total cost / latency / token usage, and visualize the conversation as a tree. Best for: multi-turn agents, RAG pipelines with intermediate calls, anywhere you'd otherwise lose the context of which call belonged to which run. Works with: Helicone Cloud + self-hosted, any OpenAI / Anthropic SDK. Setup time: 2 minutes.
Tag a session
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(
base_url="https://oai.helicone.ai/v1",
default_headers={
"Helicone-Auth": f"Bearer {HELICONE_KEY}",
"Helicone-Session-Id": "session_abc123",
"Helicone-Session-Name": "support_ticket_4521",
"Helicone-Session-Path": "/triage/research/respond",
},
)
# Each call inside this session is grouped together
client.chat.completions.create(
model="gpt-4o",
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Help me triage ticket #4521"}],
)Multiple calls with the same Helicone-Session-Id aggregate in the dashboard.
Path-based hierarchy
# Top-level: triage
client.chat.completions.create(
extra_headers={"Helicone-Session-Path": "/triage"},
...
)
# Sub-step: classify intent
client.chat.completions.create(
extra_headers={"Helicone-Session-Path": "/triage/classify"},
...
)
# Sub-step: generate response
client.chat.completions.create(
extra_headers={"Helicone-Session-Path": "/triage/respond"},
...
)The dashboard renders the path as a tree, so you see the agent's decision flow.
Why use Sessions vs raw logs
| Without Sessions | With Sessions |
|---|---|
| 100 calls per agent run, hard to attribute | One session = one run, all calls grouped |
| No total cost per workflow | Total cost / latency / tokens per session |
| Find issues by call ID | Find issues by run ID, see all related calls |
| Can't replay a multi-step flow | Replay the entire session tree |
FAQ
Q: Is Helicone Sessions free? A: Yes — Sessions are part of the Helicone free tier (10K requests/month). Paid plans add longer retention and higher quotas. Self-hosted Helicone supports Sessions natively.
Q: Do I need to change my SDK? A: No — Helicone is a proxy. Switch your OpenAI / Anthropic / etc base URL to Helicone's, add the Helicone-Auth header. Sessions are opt-in via additional headers.
Q: Can I use Sessions with Anthropic Claude?
A: Yes — Helicone proxies Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Bedrock, OpenRouter. Set base URL to https://anthropic.helicone.ai, pass the same Helicone-Session-* headers.
Source & Thanks
Built by Helicone. Licensed under Apache-2.0.
Helicone/helicone — ⭐ 4,000+